Professor Linda Woodhead MBE FBA FRSE FAcSS
F.D. Maurice Professor
Research interests
- Religion
Biography
Linda Woodhead was appointed to King's in 2021. Previously she was Distinguished Professor at Lancaster University. She has held visiting positions at Muenster, Ottawa, Princeton, Stanford and other universities. She studied at Emmanuel College, Cambridge where she took a Double First. She was Director of the £17m AHRC/ESRC Religion and Society Programme. She is regularly in the media speaking about religion today.
Research interests and PhD supervision
- Religion, magic, spirituality
- Values and ethics
- Contemporary religious and cultural change, in Britain and beyond
- Gods and spirits, good and evil
Linda works across different disciplines, particularly theology, religious studies, and the social scientific study of religion. She has written extensively about the decline of institutional religion, especially the churches, and the rise of alternative spiritualities.She would welcome applications from research students in any of the topics above.
Selected publications
Societal Churches in Ambivalent Societies: The Old National Churches of Northern Europe. Ed. with Astrid Krabbe Trolle. Bloomsbury 2026
Messy Methods in Researching Religion. Ed. with Louisa Cadman and Nicole Graham. OUP 2025
Unknowing God: Towards a Post-Abusive Theology. With Peter Harvey. Cascade 2022
Gen Z, Explained: The Art of Living in a Digital Age. With Roberta Katz, Sarah Ogilvie, Jane Shaw. University of Chicago Press 2021
The Routledge International Handbook of Religion in Global Society. Ed. with Jayeel Cornelio, Francois Gauthier, Tuomas Martikainen. Routledge 2021
That Was the Church That Was: How the Church of England Lost the English People. With Andrew Brown. Bloomsbury 2016
Teaching
Linda teaches in the broad areas of Sociology of Religion and Spirituality; and Sociology, Culture and Values.
Expertise and public engagement
Linda regularly appears in the media speaking about religion, culture and values.
Radio: BBC Anti-Social, Free Thinking, In Our Time, Start the Week, Today, World at One etc.
TV: Deutsche Welt News, Newsnight, The Big Questions, Daily Politics Show, etc.
Her research and comments have been featured in the Atlantic , Daily Mail, Economist, Guardian, Irish Times, New Statesman, Observer, Sunday Times, Telegraph, Times, Times of India, Prospect, Washington Post, etc.
She founded the Westminster Faith Debates with the Rt Hon Charles Clarke.
In 2026 Linda was a member of the Expert Advisory Group advising the Department of Education on a new National Currriculum for Religious Education schools. She has campaigned for an improvement in the way religion is handled in schools for over a decade.
Research
Offence
With growing interconnectedness, especially online, and with personal identities having more salience, the issue of offence has risen up the agenda.
Project status: Ongoing
News
There may not be a Christian revival, but Britain's traditional churches aren't doomed
In the same week that a new archbishop of Canterbury was installed, YouGov admitted that a poll suggesting there was a “quiet revival” of Christianity was a...
Alumni celebrate launch of 'A Short History of the Department of Theology & Religious Studies'
Alumni, staff and students gathered at King’s for the launch of A Short History of the Department of Theology & Religious Studies, a new publication by...
King's alumna Dame Sarah Mullally named Archbishop of Canterbury
King's Professor Linda Woodhead talks to the media about the first woman appointed as the head of the Church of England, and the challenges she faces in her...
Embracing and learning from the messiness of researching religion
Professor Linda Woodhead and Dr Nicole Graham explore methods and mistakes when researching religion in new book.
We need to understand academic freedom if we are to protect it
The inaugural King’s Presidential Series event explored the difference between academic freedom and freedom of speech, and the price we will pay as a society...
Three King's academics elected as Fellows of the British Academy
Three academics from King’s have been welcomed to the prestigious British Academy Fellowship, in recognition of their pioneering research in the areas of law,...
Events
Launch event: A Short History of the Department of Theology & Religious Studies
Sarah Limb and Linda Woodhead
Please note: this event has passed.
Messy Methods in Researching Religion Book Launch
Co-edited by Professor Linda Woodhead and Dr Nicole Graham from King’s Department of Theology and Religious Studies and Dr Louisa Cadman (Sheffield Hallam...
Please note: this event has passed.
Features
Why universities must lead the conversation on redefining academic freedom
The concept of academic freedom, which arose to protect academics and allow them to research and teach in areas where they have scholarly expertise, now needs...
Desmond Tutu (1931-2021): Spirituality, Social Justice and Leadership
Commemorating the life and work of King's alumnus and Nobel Prize winner, the late Desmond Tutu, King’s College London and the University of the Western Cape,...
A nation stood still: How King's shared expertise following the death of The Queen
As news broke on 8 September 2022 of the death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, academics from King's offered their expertise to the media on what this...
Research
Offence
With growing interconnectedness, especially online, and with personal identities having more salience, the issue of offence has risen up the agenda.
Project status: Ongoing
News
There may not be a Christian revival, but Britain's traditional churches aren't doomed
In the same week that a new archbishop of Canterbury was installed, YouGov admitted that a poll suggesting there was a “quiet revival” of Christianity was a...
Alumni celebrate launch of 'A Short History of the Department of Theology & Religious Studies'
Alumni, staff and students gathered at King’s for the launch of A Short History of the Department of Theology & Religious Studies, a new publication by...
King's alumna Dame Sarah Mullally named Archbishop of Canterbury
King's Professor Linda Woodhead talks to the media about the first woman appointed as the head of the Church of England, and the challenges she faces in her...
Embracing and learning from the messiness of researching religion
Professor Linda Woodhead and Dr Nicole Graham explore methods and mistakes when researching religion in new book.
We need to understand academic freedom if we are to protect it
The inaugural King’s Presidential Series event explored the difference between academic freedom and freedom of speech, and the price we will pay as a society...
Three King's academics elected as Fellows of the British Academy
Three academics from King’s have been welcomed to the prestigious British Academy Fellowship, in recognition of their pioneering research in the areas of law,...
Events
Launch event: A Short History of the Department of Theology & Religious Studies
Sarah Limb and Linda Woodhead
Please note: this event has passed.
Messy Methods in Researching Religion Book Launch
Co-edited by Professor Linda Woodhead and Dr Nicole Graham from King’s Department of Theology and Religious Studies and Dr Louisa Cadman (Sheffield Hallam...
Please note: this event has passed.
Features
Why universities must lead the conversation on redefining academic freedom
The concept of academic freedom, which arose to protect academics and allow them to research and teach in areas where they have scholarly expertise, now needs...
Desmond Tutu (1931-2021): Spirituality, Social Justice and Leadership
Commemorating the life and work of King's alumnus and Nobel Prize winner, the late Desmond Tutu, King’s College London and the University of the Western Cape,...
A nation stood still: How King's shared expertise following the death of The Queen
As news broke on 8 September 2022 of the death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, academics from King's offered their expertise to the media on what this...